The "creepy bestie curse" - an analysis of the friendship between Handa and Kageno
At the end of last year, I made an essay about Handa's friendships with everyone from Raimon, but there is a friendship that caught my interest in particular because of their funny interactions, opposite personalities, and subtle growth that I'll analyze today. These two probably spent a lot of time together due to shared experiences (like the hospitalization during the Aliea Academy arc), but even before that they were often seen next to each other, either training or having their scares running gag.
I'll mostly analyze this friendship in chronological order, but before starting that, let's take a look at their dub names. Jim Wraith is pretty self-explanatory for the ghost boy, but why is Handa's dub name Steve Grim when he's known to be a very average guy? It's probably because he ends up being the most frequent victim of Kageno's running gag, but instead of pushing him away because of this, he still sees him as a friend. It's interesting that even though they are opposites in personality (Handa is too normal and Kageno is very strange), both of their dub surnames have connotations with the underworld.
And now, I'll analyze some key moments from the anime.
This weird friendship started right from the first episode, where their first interaction involves Handa getting startled by Kageno's sudden appearance behind his back, followed by Handa quickly apologizing for not noticing him. From then on, this ends up being a routine for them.
A variation of this running gag is seen in episode 4, where Handa points out the irony that Kageno, of all people, called Occult creepy. Who else would have pointed it out?
However, between these two scenes, there's another important moment for their friendship. After Someoka tackles Kageno to the ground to steal the ball from him, Handa calls him out on the foul play, showing his morals and subtle acceptance of the weirder teammates.
Another moment involving this running gag happens all the way in episode 24 (I skipped the scene from episode 11 since almost the whole team was startled by Kageno, not just Handa). As you can see here, he brushes off the scare with a smile, having accepted these by this point.
However, their interactions don't only involve scares and flinching.
They are sometimes seen training together, with a key element in the series being the way soccer brings people together. And like I showed in my previous essay, Handa is comfortable enough with everyone from the team, even the walking jumpscarer.
Furthermore, in episode 14 and the Reloaded credits, they are seated next to each other in Rairaiken. This might suggest that even before season 2 brought them in the same space, they were getting along fairly well, jumpscares aside.
Let's move on to season 2 now. They were among the 5 people that Gemini Storm sent to the hospital and were appointed in the same room. By this point, Handa already accepted the "creepy bestie curse" and it looks like the shared experience only brought them closer. Since Max is Kageno's other best friend, it's possible these three started a trio.
Headcanon time: check out this siblings headcanon post for more details regarding Kageno's older sister: https://www.tumblr.com/ilincasiatat/798579418983497728/the-sibling-headcanon-about-4-raimon-members. My theory is that this shared experience brought them closer because they got the chance to open up about each other (like how Handa wants to stand out more and Kageno wants to be more visible and not live in his sister's shadow), realizing they have more in common than they thought.
They were also grouped together in season 3 as the few members who didn't get selected for Inazuma Japan and it's safe to assume they continued their close friendship, as well as trio with Max.
Headcanon time: after they were both didcharged from the hospital, even after Handa went back to the people he has always been close to (like Someoka), he sometimes included Kageno (and possibly Max by extension) in his friend group. This scene from Hono Suto chapter 151 seems to support my theory because Kageno and Someoka are seen getting along here.
And then, there's this picture taken at the school festival that shows the trio chose the same activity. And guess what, said activity is Halloween, fitting for the creepy guy himself and the normal guy who learned to embrace the weirdness. Kageno still manages to startle Handa with a flashlight, though XD.
Finishing off the anime, in the last episode, they are both shown to be exhausted after the graduation match, with Kazemaru making them feel better afterwards. There's hope that they'll always be friends, as suggested in this image.
And now, here's some extra content.
Chapters 66-67 from Hono Suto seem to be a reference to their friendship, or at least that's how I see it. In these chapters, Handa wants to try out new clothes that are different from his usual style, only for the Charismatic Saleswoman to choose a style that would fit Kageno more. At first he is embarrassed, but the saleswoman helps him embrace the style, with both her and Gouenji thinking the outfit suits him pretty well. This seems to mirror the subtle growth arc of the Handa and Kageno friendship I've been discussing about.
Before I finish, here's a photo that shows the different reactions of three of Kageno's teammates to his strange aura. Max, one of the few people who doesn't get scared by him (safe for an OOC moment from episode 3), is just eating happily. Megane, the resident Butt Monkey, is absolutely terrified. Handa is somewhere in between. He looks a bit weirdly at Kageno, but he still doesn't flinch.
And now, I just finished the essay I've been procrastinating on since December. I hope you enjoyed the read and don't mind that it took so long.
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